Volunteers place 13,000 flags on graves

AUGUSTA – With the dawn of Memorial Day in Maine, crisp, new American flags mark the graves of nearly 13,000 veterans in the state’s memorial cemeteries. That wasn’t always the case, and sadly the holiday passed by with many of those graves unnoticed in years past.

“They were never flagged,” said Don Simoneau. “There’s some people in those cemeteries that probably haven’t had a visitor since the day they were buried.”

While serving as Maine’s American Legion commander, Simoneau decided he could not let that situation stand. “Now I can guarantee those veterans will have two visitors: one to put the flag out and one to take the flag in,” he said.

Through Simoneau’s successful efforts to push through a state law and mobilize volunteers, every known veteran’s grave at three Maine Veterans Memorial Cemeteries now gets a Memorial Day flag, fulfilling the spirit of long-standing state tradition.

To Simoneau, that means more than seeing the Stars and Stripes rippling over veterans’ headstones. He thinks of the scores of Cub Scouts, Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts, 4-H Club members and sons and daughters of military members who fan out across the cemeteries to put the 12-by-18-inch flags in place.

“The person placing the flag has to read the stone,” said Simoneau, an Army veteran from Fayette. “For a moment, they’re having a visitor. That’s kind of overwhelming if you think about it.”

What was first declared as Decoration Day in 1868, three years after the Civil War ended, later became known as Memorial Day. Maine law long required flags and flowers at every veteran’s burial site on that day, although the flower requirement was dropped in 1999.

While virtually every town and city across the state placed flags at the grave sites, the rule didn’t apply to the Maine Veterans Memorial Cemeteries. They include two in Augusta, which as of last week had a total of 12,220 graves, and one in Caribou, which had 220.

The state cemeteries were exempted, said Simoneau, because the state was reluctant to burden the host cities – especially Augusta – with the expense of purchasing all those flags.

As state American Legion commander in 2007, Simoneau made the flag issue his priority.

He helped to push through a law that requires the state veterans’ cemeteries to establish a system to put up flags at grave markers.

It allows for volunteer organizations to place flags on graves beginning two days before Memorial Day and for removal three days after the holiday observance. Three extra days are allowed in case of bad weather.

That way, flags are up for only a limited time. Cemetery lawn mowers can get back to their jobs free of obstructions from flags. Volunteers, meanwhile, will save the flags for the next Memorial Day. Simoneau said each flag should last about 10 years.

The 2007 law also creates a special flag fund to which private donors can send contributions for veterans’ flags. No public money has gone into the flag fund.

In a quiet ceremony at the Maine Veterans Memorial Cemetery in the capital last Wednesday, Gov. John Baldacci accepted a $2,637 check from Simoneau, now past commander of the Legion’s Maine contingent.